The present invention relates to a vessel for use in growing plant tissue cultures, e.g., plant tissue, parts of plants or plants.
In the growing of plant tissue cultures, it is likely that the grower will want to provide various growth conditions at various stages of the plant growth. Such conditions may include, for example, a condition under which the container is hermetically sealed, a condition under which the container is allowed to breathe only to a very limited extent, a condition under which air is allowed to pass freely into and out of the closed container but with the air going into the container being filtered to remove possible contamination. Vessels for this purpose are known. An example of such a known vessel is illustrated by my prior U.S. Pat. No. 4,224,765.
A principal object of the present invention is to provide an economical vessel which is readily adaptable by the grower to provide any of the variety of growing conditions as may be desired by the grower. Economy is not only present insofar as the cost of manufacture is concerned (and thus the grower's acquisition cost) but also from the standpoint of efficient use of the area or space that a grower has available to be occupied by plant culture vessels. An additional consideration for the grower is the problem of sterilizing the vessel prior to its use and embodiments of the present invention are well suited to receive that treatment.
Further objects and advantages will become apparent to those knowledgeable in the art from the following description and the drawings hereof.
In the present invention the cap has walls which extend down beside the side walls of the base member and into a space about those side walls which is defined by an "L" shaped rim on the outside of the side walls. The walls of the cap have ribs which frictionally engage the side walls of the base member thereby permitting the cap to be positioned with its cover slightly above the side walls of the base member and in a position such that an air passage is provided into and out of the vessel. When so positioned, a ring of filtering material may encircle the walls of the base member, in the bottom of the space defined by the "L" shaped rim, for the purpose of clarifying the air moving into the vessel.